Who Speaks for Whom: Authority, Tradition, and Encyclopedias of Islam​

This review article provides a broad overview of the aca­demic, political, and methodological framework of five encyclopedias of Islam. Starting with the 4-volume The Encyclopædia of Islam: A Dictionary of the Geography, Eth­nography and Biography of the Muhammadan Peoples, pub­lished between 1913-38, the review traces history and raison d’être for the emergence of encyclopedic works on Islam and examines their mutual influence on each other. Specific attention is given to the social and politi­cal environment in which academic activity takes place. Three current Muslim projects are compared with Brill’s ground-breaking Encyclopædia of Islam and with each other. Using two case studies (entries on Adam and Abu Bakr) the article examines source material, methodology, and perspective in the new encyclopedias.

Keywords: Encyclopedias of Islam; historical and social influences on academic scholarship; colonialism and academic activ­ity; influence of state and political power on academia; knowledge, authority, and tradition.

Journal of Islam & Science, Vol. 9 (Summer 2011) No. 1

Muzaffar Iqbal

Muzaffar Iqbal is the President of the Center for Islamic Sciences and the General Editor of the Integrated Encyclopedia of the Qurʾan.